


Normalcy

by AtomSmasher



Category: MST3K
Genre: Gen, My First Work in This Fandom, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-10-03 10:49:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17282657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtomSmasher/pseuds/AtomSmasher
Summary: Veronica used to work in the cafeteria while being employed at Gizmonics Institute. Who would have guessed Dr. Forrester would ever need a woman to even the odds against his two bumbling experiments Mike and Joel.





	1. Chapter 1

**An experiment by any other name**

Veronica King, was a twenty nine year old who was living in a "communal space station" as Dr. Forrester told her after she finally reached consciousness. The Mads were thrilled since their newest test subject was trying to form coherent sentences through hysterical tears.

"Communal space station?" Mike said, folding his arms across his chest. "that's a funny name for kidnapping."

Dr. Forrestor rolled his eyes.

"Calm down," Dr. Forrester shouted. "it could have been worse," he explained, his voice was on the edge of anger. "you're being held in captivity! You're here because your my latest test subject! You're mine to do as I please and when I tell you to get your hinder into that theater you move it! Do you understand me!" he growled.

"Yes," Veronica gasped. "I understand." she was blinking tears from her eyes.

"He's trying to break our wills by forcing us to watch bad movies," Crow said, quietly.

"We're all doing fine," came Joel's kind, soft answer. "you're here, but we're doing fine," he repeated again. "we're all experiments, but we're making the best of our lives since we've been in shot up in space."

 _"Space,"_  Veronica thought to herself.

"What do you mean by space?" Veronica asked. Her eyes appeared dark and empty.

"You know space," Servo said, a soft chuckle rolled off his tongue. "we're trapped in space." she could hear a hint of cheerfulness in his voice. "space, the only place."

Veronica's mind which kept drawing blanks only provided her with a rough definition.

_**space** _

_**/spās/** _

_**noun** _

_**1.** _

_**a continuous area or expanse that is free, available, or unoccupied.** _

_**"a table took up much of the space"** _

"We're on Earth aren't we?" Veronica said, in a panicked whisper. "this is Earth!"

A long drawn out pause, then a deep breathe, Veronica's stomach clenched preparing for the worst.

"No, sweetpea, this isn't Earth," Joel told Veronica. "we're nowhere near home." 

You're joking, right...

...This is all just a joke...

_**...Just a joke...** _


	2. Chapter 2

**Once, Twice, or even three times a lady**

"A joke?" Dr. Forrester said, grinning. "come now, that tranquilizer I gave you left you nearly comatose," he checked his wristwatch for a brief moment then responded the estimated time. "you were sleeping off seventy-two hours, you're probably still a bit disorientated aren't you," his mood brightened. "it was enough time to haul you into a space capsule and ship you off to the Satellite of Love."

Veronica's jaw fell open in disbelief.

_This wasn't some tasteless joke set up by Gizomonic Institute after all..._

"Don't you remember the day after you left Gizmonic's Institute I followed you to the underground parking garage," Dr. Forrester reminded. "I immobilized you with my tranquilizer gun aiming for your pelvis."

"It still hurts," Veronica wheezed. "I can still feel it!"

_Nobody was going to yell surprise_

Mike and Joel exchanged worried expressions to one another.

"Tenderness, any soreness around the injection site?" Dr. Forrester asked, wondering if there was any lingering injuries after their first confrontation. "I'm surprised you're standing at all after my comically over-sized needle I loaded into tranquilizer gun ripped right through the fabric of your khakis."

**_Oh My God! OH MY GOD!_ **

For a long moment Veronica was speechless the news struck her like a blow to the stomach.

The room became exceptionally quiet.

"I thought sending Mike and Joel a female companion might liven things up a bit," Dr. Forrester said, with a bright smile. "I'm lacking the kind of scientific critical thinking when I realized I don't know how a female would withstand my experiments." he gave a pleasant laugh, studying Veronica's empty unreadable expression. "you're invaluable to my research and now are there any questions you have for me?"

"I could use a few things, things I really need," she tried using suggestive language to avoid describing what she really meant to say in the presence of mixed company. "you know things women need?" Veronica said as politely as could manage. "the kind of things only a woman would own? There wasn't anything "practical" you sent along with me when you trapped me on the Satellite of Love."

Dr. Forrester smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"You really should have given more thought before you sent a woman into space, sir," Joel said, cutting into their conversation. "which I'm sure won't be much of a problem since your mother moved in." he gave a pleased sigh.

"My mother is ancient and is dealing with the onset of menopause," Dr. Forrester said, glaring angrily at Joel.

"Spare the expense," Servo insisted.

"Women are pretty low maintenance," Crow said, his eyes settling on Servo.

"You can't go abandoning the creature comforts a woman needs to live a decent life aboard the Satellite of Love."

"You do plan on keeping Veronica, right?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Damage Control**

The answer was obvious.

Dr. Forrester wasn't planning on sending Veronica back to Earth. He already ordered the jumpsuits Frank picked out, they were the most pinkest, most feminine jumpsuits any woman would find flattering. Women liked those kinds of things, a jumpsuit that could be accessorized and bedazzled. Gypsy owned the sewing kits and makeup for those days when she felt like feeling attractive.

Minus the emotional stability.

Whether Gypsy liked it or not he finally gave her a sister and as for Joel. Since he added the third newest member to the Satellite of Love, Veronica was his to steward, to nurture.

She was going to be fine or at least a close approximation.

* * *

_Still hurts...it still hurts...it was a bad idea to move...it was my idea, it wasn't a good idea, it was a bad decision. All I ever keep making is bad decisions, if I was more aware of my surroundings while I was inside that parking garage I might have avoided Dr. Forrester..._

_I can't believe this...I never imagined I'd find myself in this much trouble._

_I didn't think...I didn't think hard enough. I really thought this would never happen...I never thought...I really thought so..._

It was Joel who was speaking, ending her thoughts abruptly.

Joel's voice sounded submerged, like he was speaking underwater, his voice was soft and distant, almost pleading. "not good," he told Mike. "she's got this fever," he pressed a hand to Veronica's forehead. "we gotta break this fever."

Veronica woke up gasping for air.

Sweet oxygen filled her lungs as she opened her eyes to the satellite of love's infirmary.

"What happened," Veronica rasped. "all I remember I just wanted to lie down and then," she said, breathlessly as Joel swam into her vision. "I heard white noise, you know the white noise you hear from a television, but all of it was happening inside my head and the next thing I know everything turns black," she closed her eyes. "I can't focus, everything feels so hot."

The bed she was lying on felt hard, and stiff. As Veronica sat up, she realized she was lying on a metal table inside an examination room.

Blinking her eyes, the small clinic came into focus.

"You have a fever, all you have is a fever, all we need to do is bring it down," Joel said, with forced optimism. "just trust me, okay?" after last night's emotional exchange, Joel felt his chest tighten, he could feel grief swelling painfully inside of himself. "you trust us don't you?" he asked.

A shaky sigh escaped Veronica's throat.

"it's not like I have a choice or anything," she said, fighting back tears. "not like...any of us had the choice..you know," her tone of voice was uneasy and harsh. "we're all trapped." her words were clipped.

"It's not so bad," was all Mike managed to say.

"Not so bad," Veronica said, gasping, choking back tears. "you expect me to believe that it's not so bad?" she choked out a cough. "I'm here because of Dr. Forrester needed to even out the male to female ratio. So now when Dr. Forrester gives the word. I have to watch bad movies all because he thinks, the part about watching bad movies will drive me crazy. It's not going to be the bad movies that will drive me mad. Kidnapping and isolating someone from the planet Earth are the real culprits here. Who the hell does that moron think he's fooling? Bad movies will contribute to that assorted pile of post traumas I'll be suffering from in a weeks. But Dr. Forrester is delusional that sending people into space then forcing them to watch bad movies is what will break  _ **my**_  will!"

Mike and Joel stared at each other, neither of them knowing what to say.

"We have our days," Joel admitted, ending the silence. "I can't really go glossing over the fact we've been kidnapped. I was knocked out with a with a pipe wrench and then thrown in the janitor's closet where Dr. Forrester purposely opened a few bottles of ammonia. No, it wasn't a pleasant surprise when I woke up I could barely breathe and now I have a fear of closed spaces."

"I really needed the money so Dr. Forrester hired me," Mike said, smiling sadly. "they were getting ready for an audit while I tried helping Joel escape behind their backs. I really should have left Gizmonic's the moment he asked me what size jumpsuit I wore," he exhaled a loud frustrated breathe. "I got a really bad concussion that took a few months to work out." he rubbed the back of his head, absent minded.

"We got stories," Joel said, pulling her away from her disturbed thoughts. "you need somebody to talk to will listen."

Veronica swallowed a pained gasp.

"Don't ever think you're alone," Joel said, his tone of voice didn't sound angry or worrisome, but she did hear a hint of amusement. "you're apart of the experiments now. You're one of us now, if you have any problems please don't deal with them by yourself."

"If you could just let me cry for a few hours it might make me feel a bit better," Veronica abruptly exclaimed. "it won't improve my situation but if you let me get all the sad stuff out of the way first I'd really appreciate it," she said, in between sobs. "I just really need to get all of this out of my system," she informed them, before sobbing louder.

"I just really need to cry."


End file.
